'12 Rounds' makes most of New Orleans scenery

Patti Perret / 20th Century FoxJohn Cena leaps into action in the action film '12 Rounds.'

Screenwriter Daniel Kunka was thinking big stunts when he first put pen to paper to write the locally shot action flick "12 Rounds." He was thinking big explosions. He was thinking big, period.

But he wasn't thinking the Big Easy.

When the movie -- a joint venture of 20th Century Fox and the World Wrestling Entertainment's fledgling movie production arm -- hits theaters today (March 27), however, New Orleans will be front and center. So how did it all happen?

"It was written very, very specifically for Chicago, " Kunka said during a set visit last spring. "And when the WWE got involved and we ran into some budget issues, we moved it down here."

Patti Perret / 20th Century FoxIn the film, pro wrestler Cena plays a New Orleans Police Department officer facing off with an ex-con with a grudge.

That meant some quick rewrites, a challenge since the USC-trained Kunka had never visited New Orleans before. But after some quick research and a couple of weeks in town, he rewrote wrestling superstar John Cena's main character -- a police officer who must complete a dozen challenges on order of his girlfriend's kidnapper -- to become an NOPD cop.

An action scene was tweaked to involve a Canal Street streetcar. The Algiers ferry and the Crescent City Connection would make appearances. A firetruck would carom off cars at the edge of the French Quarter. A '73 Camaro would cannonball over a Mississippi River levee.

"This is my first produced movie, " said Kunka, who was 29 during the film's spring '08 production (and whose on-set guests included his parents). "And people ask, 'Is this how you saw it?' And strangely enough, it is.

Another quick convert to the idea of resetting the film in New Orleans was its director, action-film veteran Renny Harlin. In addition to helming 1993's "Cliffhanger" and 1990's "Die Hard 2, " Harlin shot the Samuel L. Jackson thriller "Cleaner" in Shreveport in early 2007. During a break in shooting on that film, he made it a point to come down for New Orleans' Mardi Gras. It was his first time in the city, but he saw potential right away.

Later, after spending a few months scouting locations for "12 Rounds" in town (and, among other things, celebrating his 50th birthday New Orleans-style), he was certain.

"New Orleans is one of the few cities in America that really has an identity that visually, on film, can really be spectacular -- like San Francisco or New York or Miami or a few places like that, " Harlin said.

"But New Orleans is really unique and has this Caribbean feel to it that I love, and I felt that for this movie -- this big movie that takes place in one day and is really intense -- this city really lends a background that really, really works."

But will it work for audiences? More important, will it work for New Orleans audiences?

Hard to say. Fox didn't screen the film in advance for local film critics. (You can read my full review later today at www.nola.com/movies.)

For his part, the star of the show, Cena, seemed to think it would work -- and that it even holds sequel possibility.

"Absolutely. I really enjoy this, especially this crew. That would mean I'd hopefully be able to come back to New Orleans, " he said. "If we could pull it off with this same set-up it'd be fantastic. If we have to go another way, so be it, (but) it would be good for WWE Films to invest more in a franchise of movies rather than a singe movie. This one looks like it may be it."

Kunka, for one, is on board.

"There's always a chance for '13 Rounds, ' " he said. "We should be so lucky."